Journalism at UL joins Google’s News Lab Network

Pictured at the launch of the Limerick Voice in late 2016 left to right: Dr Fergal Quinn, Lecturer in Journalism, UL, Kathryn Hayes, Lecturer in Journalism, UL, Professor Tom Lodge, Dean of AHSS faculty, UL, Michelle Hogan, Editor, and Dr. Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, Head of School, School of Culture and Communication, UL.

Wed, 28 Jun 2017

University of Limerick (UL) has been accepted into Google’s new global university network, which focuses on increasing digital literacy and data journalism skills. UL’s Journalism Department joins 60 journalism schools worldwide in the Google News Lab University Network.

The network provides both in-person and online training and support to professors and students on topics ranging from Google tools’ fundamentals to trust and verification, immersive storytelling, data journalism, advanced search and Google Trends, data visualization and mapping.

UL Journalism lecturer Kathryn Hayes says: “The journalism department in UL is delighted to be part of this exciting university network which aims to build a global platform for discussion around the future of journalism education.

“We want our students to be entering the work force fully equipped for today’s digital landscape and having access to cutting edge research and storytelling tools will further enhance UL’s reputation for delivering industry-ready graduates.”

According to Matt Cooke, Google News Lab lead for UK, Ireland and Nordics: "Journalism schools around the world are doing important work, shaping the future of media by training the next generation of journalists in their classrooms. At the Google News Lab, we believe our tools can play a role in helping to provide some of the skills necessary for these students to succeed in the newsrooms of tomorrow.

“To help better serve this important community, we're glad to welcome the University of Limerick to a new initiative to provide journalism educators with the same level of training and support that we’ve provided to journalists in newsrooms for years," he stated.

Other global journalism schools in the network includes: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University; University of Hong Kong; and, Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi.

Earlier this year, University of Limerick journalism students secured three of the five highly competitive Google News Labs Fellowships offered in Ireland. The BA and MA in Journalism and New Media students will complete eight-week placements at some of the country’s top national media organisations. The students were selected for the Google News Lab Fellowships from hundreds of applications from journalism students across the country.

Speaking about UL’s involvement with the Google News Lab, Head of Journalism in UL Fergal Quinn said: "This access to the Google News lab will help put journalism at UL at forefront of capitalising on digital news developments. This is vital for preparing journalists for a rapidly evolving media environment”.